The present invention relates to information management systems.
Information management nowadays can be a complex problem. There is a large amount of information available from many sources. For instance, in a corporate environment there may be in-house databases and shared word processing environments, and the user may have access to an information network such as the Internet.
The Internet is a known communications system based on a plurality of separate communications networks distributed across several countries but connected together. It provides a rich source of information from many different providers but this very richness creates a problem in accessing specific information as there is no central monitoring and control.
Software agents provide a known approach to dealing with information management. Each agent generally comprises functionality to perform a task or tasks on behalf of an entity (human or machine-based) in an autonomous manner, together with local data, or means to access data, to support the task or tasks. For instance, an information agent might select documents of relevance to a topic or user. It would therefore need access to the documents, processing functionality to select the relevant documents, and data to enable the selection to take place.
Different types of agent-based systems are described in several published papers, such as those published in the proceedings of the First and Second International Conferences on the Practical Application of Intelligent Agents and Multi-Agent Technology. These are published by the Practical Application Company Ltd., Blackpool, Lancashire, in 1996 and 1997 respectively. A general comprehensive review of agent-based technology is given by Hyacinth S. Nwana, xe2x80x9cSoftware Agents: An Overviewxe2x80x9d in the Knowledge Engineering Review journal, Vol. 11, No. 3, pages 205-244.
In co-pending international Patent Application Number WO96/23265, there is described a software agent particularly for use in information management. The agent, known as xe2x80x9cJASPERxe2x80x9d, is associated with a user""s Internet browser and alerts the user to documents of interest to them. To do that, JASPER uses a keyword set for the user concerned. However, by using clustering techniques, JASPER can extend the keyword set to pick up documents that would not have been located otherwise.
There are also tools known for processing the information itself, such as the PROSUM information summariser described in the applicant""s co-pending European patent application number 97302616.4. This summarises information in accordance with a user""s particular interest rather than simply in accordance with the content of the document. Hence a user looking at the results of a search and reading the summary produced by PROSUM will be alerted to a document in which the user""s interest is represented by only a reference within the document, the document being principally about something else. Such documents tend not to be picked up by more conventional search tools.
According to embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an information management system for a plurality of users, the system comprising:
i) at least one user interface for receiving user input information;
ii) data storage means;
iii) a data input tool for generating a data set from user input information received at the interface, and for storing the data set in the data storage means;
iv) means for generating and storing user profiles, each user profile comprising at least one keyword allocated to a respective user;
v) at least one data retrieval tool for locating information in accordance with each of a plurality of user profiles, for storing data relating to information so located, and for searching data so stored in accordance with at least one data set generated by the data input tool; and
vi) control means for receiving said user inputs and for running one or more of said tools
wherein the control means is adapted, in use, to receive said user input information, to run the data input tool to generate and store said data set from the input information, and to input said data set to the data retrieval tool to search said data so stored.
xe2x80x9cInformationxe2x80x9d in this context means any information whether presented in words, images or computer code for instance, and would include a computer file or a computer program, Internet pages, electronic mail documents, text files, word-processed documents, or multimedia objects such as movie, picture or sound files.
A xe2x80x9cuserxe2x80x9d might well be another piece of equipment. A user is not necessarily a human entity in the context of this specification.
In general, a data set generated by the user input tool comprises a data set which characterises the information but is relatively a much smaller data set than the information itself. Hence a data set may comprise an identifier and a set of keywords, or it may comprise additional information such as creation and download dates, authorship and even an abstract or summary.
Embodiments of the present invention offer a particularly useful information management environment for a plurality of users who might be interested in similar topics. Preferably, the control means further comprises means to log user identity information against a data set generated from information input. by that user. This enables the control means to exercise access and modification controls between that user and other users.
Embodiments of the present invention can provide an extremely useful data storage and management environment for a plurality of users. For instance, in a corporate environment, the data set generated by the data input tool may characterise a project and may be stored as a profile for the project. The control means may be adapted to give access to the data set, and/or associated information, only to the user providing the user input information. This might be done for instance by registering an identifier for that user against an identifier for the data set, or by adding the identifier for the user to the data set itself. Such a user might be called an owner in relation to that data set. Alternatively, the control means may give access to additional users, but not the capability to modify the data set and/or associated information.
Preferably, the control means further provides management capability for the user recorded as owner in that the control means may maintain a register of identifiers for other users having access in respect of the data set, the owner having unique control over the contents of the register.
Preferably, the system further comprises user selection means, for selecting results output by the data retrieval tool, the selected results being persistently stored. The results may be persistently stored in relation to the relevant user, and/or may be persistently stored in relation to the data set used by the data retrieval tool to locate the results. This introduces the concept of a xe2x80x9cvirtual case filexe2x80x9d. Results selected for persistent storage, for instance providing closely relevant background information to the data set, may even be user specific so that one user retrieving the virtual case file in relation to the data set will be provided with a different set of stored results from that provided to another user in relation to the same data set.
Preferably, the way in which the data retrieval tool reports data it finds by searching includes a measure of the relevance of each piece of data to the data set used in the search. This is of great use in the complex information environment of today in which it may not be practical to review much more than a very small proportion of information available, in a direct way by the user. The measure of association can be applied in a discrete rather than a continuous way. For instance, it might be used to separate search results into two or more layers, the first layer being strongly relevant to a request and the second layer being weakly relevant to the request. The user can preferably select how many layers are to be reported in response to a request. This is in contrast with known search engines which report a fixed number of search results rather than all the results to a certain level of relevance.
A capability reserved for users recorded as owners is the assignment of other users to a data set. The data set may represent a project. Each project may have a set of users assigned to it. This can provide a management facility in that, when a project is completed, the project owner can flag the completion to the system. The system then deletes the list of assigned user identifiers. The project data set, or profile, can then be reactivated at a later date or simply deleted from the system by the owner.
Preferably, a system according to an embodiment of the present invention can provide a transparent interface to a plurality of search, retrieval and/or analysis tools, the user being able to use the system without having to select and operate the different tools. This can be done by giving the system processing capability such that it can analyse a requirement in context and select a tool appropriately.
It should be noted that the data storage means of embodiments of the present invention may comprise a single database or a plurality of databases. For instance, one or more search, retrieval and/or analysis tools may be provided with its own database, in addition to there being a system database. The (or any) database may of course also be distributed or centralised.